Retreat – Day 2

A good day yesterday. Most of the creative effort went into editing "Reunion" plus some sonnet-dabbling. Had a snooze after lunch to try and catch-up on Tuesday's poor night's sleep, and another short walk before dinner for cobweb-blowing. The highlight was the 'open mic' though. I read my short story "Downsizing", two sonnets - "Pilgrimage" … Continue reading Retreat – Day 2

How important is tomorrow?

~ a question centred on the concrete yet wrapped up to sound philosophical and therefore more meaningful. It's one of those questions where we all instinctively think we know the answer - of course! - yet I suspect consistently fail to act on that basis. The 'concrete' is the beginning of a five-day writers' retreat … Continue reading How important is tomorrow?

Allotment Project update: it’s amazing what you can achieve in 6 months or so!

Please check-out the latest update on our allotment project.

Whatever you measure, make sure it’s the right thing…

Three months ago I wrote a post describing how I used a tracker to measure my artistic endeavours - and how I used the log as a way to justify that I was working hard, making progress, being productive. All the numbers looked good. Clever me. The metrics were based on the number of projects … Continue reading Whatever you measure, make sure it’s the right thing…

The Allotment Project

Our first update of the year is here.

A walk around my writing space…

I thought I'd take you on a brief tour of my writing space: https://videopress.com/v/Qpde066u?resizeToParent=true&cover=true&preloadContent=metadata&useAverageColor=true And in case you wondered where all the novels are - or some of them anyway...

The perils of sitting down

I have hurt my back. Yesterday, while stretching before going for a run, I managed to tweak it a little - and today I'm in agony. Ever since I damaged it a few years ago, my back has always been my weak spot. I suspect we all have them, somewhere that fails first and fastest … Continue reading The perils of sitting down

Weighing up adventures

I feel inclined towards an adventure. Having now thrown myself wholeheartedly into my writing and publishing, 2022 seems destined to be a 'big' year. Make or break. And the elements that will define the year are already queuing up: at least three 'writing retreats' either as mentor or participant;four new works of my own - … Continue reading Weighing up adventures

Elizabeth Barraclough

Elizabeth Barraclough was my wife's aunt. 24 hours ago that 'was' would have been an 'is'. Elizabeth was one of the most remarkable people I think I have ever met. For example, in the late fifties and early sixties she was a leading light in the computer department at Newcastle University - I know, a … Continue reading Elizabeth Barraclough

Sound body, sound mind – another update

Since my original post (appended below) I have now completed 30 stages (from a revised 60) of my journey since 'leaving' Land's End, cycling some 747km. Progress was a little slower in December than previously, but I hope to ramp it up again during Q1'22. In a virtual sense, therefore, I am now just about … Continue reading Sound body, sound mind – another update